Reviewers:
Alex- Aw, thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! Neelie- Yay! I hope this one makes you smile! CaetlynoftheStars- Thank you so much for all your reviews! There's no Mrs. Bennett in this one, but I'm very happy to know that my loved subplot has intrigued you, and she will appear in the next chapter! Demi Clayton- Here you go! SparklePool101- I love Jack playing with Sophie, and she seems to tag along with Jamie, so I gotta put her adorableness in my stories! I've never actually tried ice for a prism, so if you get it to work, let me know! And subplots... hehee...
SCULPTOR
The sun slanted delicately through the windows in North's office, lighting a few stray dust motes gleaming gold. The little nook was fairly quiet, separated from the bustling sounds of the Workshop that floated mutedly through the thick wooden door. The clear sounds of quiet chinking filled the air, along with sporadic bouts of humming.
North and Jack bent over individual pieces of ice glistening in the golden sun, chiseling carefully away with small picks to remove the excess ice hiding the potential inside.
North used a soft cloth to wipe away shards of ice from his frozen fighter jet before giving it a good blow to remove the last particles. He glanced up to see Jack using his fingers to gently brush away chips of ice from his sculpture, and tossed him a rag across the desk.
Jack caught it without looking and switched to using the soft fabric, glancing up just long enough to give North a grin of thanks.
North inspected his sculpture, adding a few finishing touches, before cracking his back and swiping a cookie from the tray on the desk between them. He shooed an elf as he wandered over curiously to see what Jack was working on.
The younger Guardian had chiseled his ice block into the shape of an acoustic guitar, somehow managing to hollow out the ice to create the thin walls of the instrument's body without breaking the delicate medium. He had finished shaping the tuning pegs and carving out the spaces between the frets, and was now finishing etching an elaborate floral-esque pattern rimming the soundhole.
"This is very good, Jack!" North exclaimed in genuine impressment, just remembering to soften his normal loud exuberance to avoid making the focused winter teen jump and ruin his work. "You use much detail!"
Jack glanced up with a pleased little grin spreading across his lips. "Thanks. I dropped in on some outdoor ice carving classes a while back to learn about the tools so I could make my own to practice with. I thought it would be fun, since ice is a medium I hardly have a shortage of," he said, laughing a little.
"You could just form sculpture with ice magic, no?" North asked, curious.
"I can, and I do that too," Jack said, focusing on etching another swirl into his pattern. "But I was bored and decided to challenge myself with something new."
With his eyes on his work, Jack missed the soft shadow that came into North's bright eyes. "You did that lot, it seems," the Russian said, a little sadness dusting his tone.
Jack let out a quiet, introspective huff of something akin to laughter. "Yeah, I guess I did," he said, craning down to see as he added another tiny flourish. "I learned a lot through it, though." He glanced up, meeting North's gaze with a growing smirk. "Kinda made me a Jack-of-all-trades, you could say."
North let out a boom of laughter and clapped Jack on the back, nearly making the smaller spirit drop his engraving tool. "Ha! Clever- is very funny!"
Jack's smirk broke into a grin as he chuckled with North's infectious laughter, before bending over slightly and tapping his pinky against his sculpture. Frost patterns bloomed softly atop the ice's surface, swirling to cover the entire body of the guitar, and complimenting the deeper etching around the soundhole. Thin, fragile strings shimmered into existence, wrapping around the tuning pegs before creeping down to meet the bridge, sparkling delicately in the light. A few tiny sparkles of ice fell to dust the floor, and the finished instrument glowed in the golden sunbeams.
Jack's smile took on a look of quiet satisfaction as he took a step back from his masterpiece. "I suppose it's what makes me so partial to mixed mediums," he said jokingly, his pleased gaze tracing his creation.
North clapped a large hand on Jack's much smaller shoulder, and they stood in silence for a moment before going back to work, sharing an artist's satisfaction in a piece well done. They spent the rest of the afternoon peacefully together, sharing a companionable silence of understanding as they both deftly sculpted, quietly enjoying their work and the other's company.
A/N: Wow, for one so short, this should have been out quicker, right? Well, birthdays and dance recitals and open houses and scheduling crazies couldn't stop this from coming eventually, so here we finally are! I hope it made you smile. Thank you so much to everyone who followed and favorited, and I will see you guys in the next chapter! (Which may be a bit, since things are a bit more hectic now that my family is going out among people more, but will have a little of the Mrs. Bennett subplot involved!) Love you guys, and wishing you a beautiful day! Elen out. (Darned thing always chops out half my attempted heart, so HEART!)
PS: THANK YOU so much for all your reviews, guys! I didn't expect to get many for a while, but you guys have already got this story over 20! Thank you so much for spending time to give feedback- it makes me so happy, and always motivates me to keep writing. You guys are the best!
